Thursday, October 27, 2011

What are your skillz?

What do scrapbooking, keeping a planner and talking like there’s no tomorrow all have in common? Well, maybe nothing for you, but for me, they comprise the things that I am best at doing. In short, they are my skills; skills that I have used to create a major, develop an internship experience and begin a job search in my four years at MU. These "skills" might seem odd…what exactly does scrapbooking have to do with drafting a successful press release, you might ask? However, it’s important to realize that skill sets don’t always envelope only the talents that you learn in class.

Take my example. I have kept a scrapbook since I was about 10, when I first understood that combining pictures with stickers and wacky scissors was way more fun than playing legos with my dweebie brother. Sibling disputes aside, scrapbooking taught me to be creative, to take pride in a final project and to mind details. I started my first planner in 8th grade, and while I mostly used it for writing down friend’s phone numbers and upcoming school dances, it instilled a discipline for keeping commitments and fostering organizational skills that I still use as a senior in college. Talking? Well, that might be the least impressionable of the three, but public speaking in front of my senior high school class on graduation led to a love for communication that has become more obvious since coming to college (meeting with clients, giving presentations and working in groups, for example).

In brief, these skills helped me decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. Want to figure out what your best skills are? Or better yet, how and where you can use them? Sometimes, your skills are more obvious than you think. The Career Services Center is offering their monthly On the Road series in November just for you! Join us as we build and identify individual skill sets with career counselors and a professional representative from Kohl’s Corporate. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention—the free lunch of the month is Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes (yum!). Perfect for chilly November weather, so we’ll see you there!